RUMBLE...
A great river seemed to surge through his body, and with a resounding crash, his shackles broke.
A warm current from the Celestial Water Essence coursed through his body, surging endlessly along his tendons.
Xia Wuyang could clearly feel every tendon transforming under the elixir’s refinement. His once withered sinews were now like waking flood dragons, coiling and knotting beneath his skin.
Tendon by tendon was refined at an astonishing speed, growing ever more resilient and flexible, enabling him to perform many incredible movements.
The splits, which had been absolute torture for him in his past life, he could now perform with effortless ease.
The Sixth Grade Realm!
The Tendon Refining Realm!
In the Jianghu, this was enough to be called a top-tier expert.
This placed him in the Middle Three Grades, the same tier as most Princes and Princesses, positioning him among the upper-middle echelons of Martial Artists in the Great Xia Dynasty.
But there was still plenty of power left in the Celestial Water Essence. After a period of consolidation, Xia Wuyang continued to advance his Cultivation Realm.
’As expected of a Middle Level Miracle Treasure, its effects are truly astonishing.’
Sixth Grade Initial Stage... His tendons grew resilient, stretching and contracting at will!
Sixth Grade Middle Stage... A master gymnast, a champion from his past life!
Sixth Grade Late Stage... His tendons became ferocious, their power output astonishing!
...
Barrier after barrier shattered as Xia Wuyang’s Cultivation and strength skyrocketed.
Amidst the thunderous roar from his tendons, his physique grew visibly leaner and more powerful.
His Power, speed, Defense, and reflexes... all grew continuously. His strength alone, the best indicator of destructive capability, surged to over 5,000 kilograms.
As he flexed his five fingers, the air cracked with a sharp retort.
In other words, with every casual movement, Xia Wuyang now possessed a force of over 5,000 kilograms.
A single bottle of Celestial Water Essence had raised his Cultivation all the way to the Sixth Grade Late Stage. He was now not far from Sixth Grade Perfection, which had saved him an unknowable amount of time and effort.
And this was while Xia Wuyang was actively holding back. Had he thrown caution to the wind and focused solely on raising his Cultivation, he likely would have already broken through to Sixth Grade Perfection.
Feeling the explosive surge in his strength, Xia Wuyang felt a slight sense of awkwardness. He spent more than an hour consolidating and adapting to it. Relying on his supreme Spiritual Power and Comprehension, he easily gained full control, moving as if it were an extension of his own arm, with no trace of sluggishness remaining.
With a bit more refinement and consolidation, he would be ready to charge toward Sixth Grade Perfection.
The next level up was the Fifth Grade Realm. Many Princes and Princesses in their fifties or sixties were currently at this stage, and it looked as if Xia Wuyang was about to catch up.
His lifespan had now reached about a hundred years—an increase of more than thirty years from when he first awakened his Seven-Aperture Exquisite Talent. For the foreseeable future, he wouldn’t have to worry about longevity.
’With this much time,’ he mused, ’I wonder how high my Spiritual Power can go, and what level it will bring my body to.’
Spirit +1!
As if on cue, good things came in pairs. Just as he finished consolidating his new strength, a new day dawned, and he gained another point of Spiritual Power.
With this latest addition, Xia Wuyang’s Spiritual Power now stood at thirty points.
Sitting cross-legged in the Practice Room, his Qi Blood flowed like a dragon while the Spiritual Power in his mind twinkled like stars, churning within his Sea of Consciousness.
BUZZ...
With the breakthrough in his Spiritual Power, an invisible wave emanated from between his eyebrows, sweeping across the entirety of Wenhua Hall like a ripple.
Within a radius of dozens of meters, the trajectory of every dust mote, the flicker of every candle flame, and even the faint breaths of the Palace Attendants outside were reflected in his perception with perfect clarity.
A second Companion Talent!
Mental Force Field... awakened!
This was an extremely rare spiritual talent, one that could only be born when Spiritual Power reached a certain threshold and broke past its limits. Though not an offensive technique, it allowed him to perceive all subtle changes within a certain radius.
It could also be continuously improved, even to the point of faintly perceiving an enemy’s emotional state.
’So that’s how it is...’
A smile spread across Xia Wuyang’s face as he carefully examined his new sense. This was a perfect case of getting a pillow just as you were getting sleepy.
He had been worried that by holing up in the Practice Room to cultivate, he would be oblivious to what was happening outside. Now, with the Mental Force Field, he could do just that, allowing him to prevent anyone from discovering his secrets.
If anyone approached, he could detect them in time, leave the Practice Room, and resume acting his part.
He opened his eyes, and it was as if a Star River flowed within them. Slowly, he raised a hand. Invisible Spiritual Threads coiled around his fingertips before instantly expanding into an unseen net, blanketing a thirty-meter radius. And it would only continue to expand in the future.
At the same time, a multitude of insights surfaced in his Sea of Consciousness, and he once again immersed himself in them.
Various Cultivation Techniques, Combat Techniques, and Secret Techniques... spun within his Sea of Consciousness. Many of the difficulties and problems he had previously encountered while trying to modify them... were now resolved with ease.
His thirty points of Spiritual Power, his Comprehension that was dozens of times greater than an ordinary person’s, and the associated creativity, speed of thought, and Metacognition... all came into play, helping him to better modify the manuals he practiced.
In just a few short hours, the Dragon Tiger Fist was modified, the Dragon and Ruling Phoenix Body Technique was modified, the Nether Acupuncture Needle was modified, and the Soul Capturing Technique was modified... All of them were now tailor-made for him, as if he were the original creator of these Cultivation Techniques, Combat Techniques, and Secret Techniques.
Not only could he unleash their full potential, but he could even bring out more than 120 percent of their power, far surpassing what an ordinary person could imagine.
It was a natural progression. These Cultivation Techniques, Combat Techniques, and Secret Techniques all advanced by a large margin, drawing ever closer to a higher level. Cultivating them in the future would be like adding wings to a tiger.
A broad smile spread across Xia Wuyang’s face. Princess Yun Shu had truly done him a huge favor this time. Without her, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to "hollow out" his body, which in turn allowed him to request higher-level nourishing elixirs and Miracle Treasures.
Emperor Xia would never have granted him the Celestial Water Essence, which had helped him shatter his bottlenecks, advance to the Sixth Grade Late Stage, and save several months of cultivation time.
He might not have even been able to activate a spiritual talent. After all, his Body Refining progress hadn’t been that high before. Even now, if not for his Seven-Aperture Exquisite Talent simultaneously nourishing and enhancing his physical constitution, his body would have struggled to bear thirty points of Spiritual Power.
This was, after all, a Spiritual Power thirty times greater than that of an ordinary person, encompassing seven different aspects—something far beyond a normal person’s imagination.
Bearing such a massive amount of Spiritual Power placed extreme demands on one’s physical body. Relying on Body Refining Cultivation alone, it would have been simply impossible.
It was thanks to the aid of his Seven-Aperture Exquisite Talent, which incidentally boosted other aspects of his physical condition, that he was able to bear thirty times the normal amount of Spiritual Power.
Xia Wuyang had only just finished absorbing the Celestial Water Essence and adapting to his new Mental Force Field when, outside, someone was already impatiently setting their sights on the Miracle Treasure he had just received.
The Chief Eunuch of the Eastern Palace, Wei Xianren, was rushing toward Wenhua Hall with a squad of eunuchs in tow. He wore a deep purple Python Robe, and a look of vexation was etched upon his wrinkled face.
’If I’d known His Majesty the Emperor was going to bestow a Miracle Treasure on that old bastard, I wouldn’t have spent the last few days away selling off one of the Crown Prince’s Mansion’s properties,’ he thought. ’I wonder how much of the Celestial Water Essence that old bastard has drunk by now.’